Turn to Genesis chapter thirty-five. I've entitled the message for
this evening, Reuben, Unstable as Water. Genesis thirty-five, verse twenty-one. And Israel journeyed and spread
his tent beyond the tower of Edar. And it came to pass when
Israel dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Billah,
his father's concubine. And Israel heard. Now the reason I didn't open
the service with that verse of scripture is because while we
were singing the songs and while we were praying, I was afraid
people would think, what's he going to go with there on that
verse of scripture? And I thought it best to not
open with that verse. But it is the inspired Word of
God, this sordid event is not passed over, but recorded. And
this is another example to us of how the Bible is the Word
of God. Only the Bible will record things
of this nature of believers. I wouldn't. You wouldn't either. You wouldn't
want your deeds to be recorded for everyone to see. I'm sure Reuben didn't either.
But here we have it. And this action was just as sinful
and perverted then as it is now. It's not like it was okay back
then because it wasn't. It was just as sinful then as
it is now. Some have maintained that this
was Reuben's rebellion against his father Jacob. Do you remember
when Absalom rebelled against David, and he went and lay with
his father's concubines in the sight of all of Israel to show
his rebellion and contempt for his father. This could have been
Reuben doing the same. I don't know. But Jacob spake
of this event in his final prophecy concerning his sons. Would you
turn with me to Genesis 49? Verse three, he speaks of all 12 of his sons.
He begins with Reuben, his firstborn Reuben. Thou art my firstborn,
my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of
dignity and the excellency of power. unstable as water. Thou shalt not excel because
thou wentest up to thy father's bed, then defilest thou it. He went up to my couch. Now as
the firstborn, the Messiah should have come through him, but he
didn't because of this event. that is recorded for us. And next, he should have come
through Simeon or Levi, but that didn't happen either. Look in
verse 5, Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty
are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou unto
their secret, unto their assembly, mine honor. Be not thou united,
for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will
they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it
was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide
them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. The Messiah would
not come through these men either. It came through Judah. And if
anybody thinks that's because of Judah's pure life, read Genesis
38, and that will dispel that myth. The next time we read of Ruman
is when he found Mandrakes, Aphrodisiacs. and gave him to his mother. That's
weird. I don't know how else to say
that. And she took them and she used them to use leverage to sell to Rachel
in order to get Rachel to let Jacob come into her. That's strange
stories of Reuben. It's one who's unstable as water.
Turn to Genesis 42. Now Reuben was the one son who
did not want to kill Joseph. All the rest of them wanted to
kill him. That's certainly commendable, but look in Genesis 42. Verse 37. And Reuben spake unto his father,
saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. Deliver
him into my hand, and I'll bring him to thee again. Now this was
Benjamin. You'll remember the story. Jacob didn't want to send
Benjamin down. And Reuben said, I'll take responsibility
for him, and if I fail you, you can kill my two sons, as if that's
what Jacob would want to do. That lets you know how twisted
he was in his thinking. He didn't say you can kill me,
but he said you can kill my two sons. And then Jacob replies
in verse 38, and he said, my son shall not go down with you.
I love the way he says that. He's not going down with you. For his brother is dead and he's
left alone, if mischief befallen by the way in which you go, then
shall you bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. He
knew Reuben enough to know that he was not going to send Benjamin
with him. Now let's go back to Genesis
49 for a moment. Reuben, this language sounds
almost strange, doesn't it? Knowing how he felt about Reuben.
And it almost seems like there's an element of sarcasm in it.
I'm not sure that there's not. Reuben, thou art my firstborn,
my might, the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity,
and the excellency of power. And here's what comes of my might,
my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of
power, unstable as water. Thou shalt not excel. You're not going to succeed at
anything. You can't be trusted. So you see why I think that there's
an element of sarcasm. The scripture uses sarcasm. Elijah
used sarcasm, mocking the false prophets. So I think that there
is room for that, much room for that in the scripture. And I
think Jacob, Jacob knew himself. When he gave the summary of his
life, he said, few and evil have been the days of the life of
my pilgrimage. I've not attained to my father's. He knew that.
And when he was saying this of Reuben, he knew Reuben. And he
makes this statement with regard to Reuben, unstable as water,
thou shalt not excel. Reuben, you're so unstable. And
that word means Light and frothy. Foam. Water. You're so unstable
that you will take the shape of any vessel you're poured into. You don't have any strength of
character. You're light and frothy, so much for the excellency of
dignity and the excellency of strength. You shall not excel. And here's why. You're unstable
as water. Now what's that mean? Unstable
as water. Well, the best commentary on
scripture is what? Scripture. If you wanna know
what something means in the scripture, see how it lines up with other
scriptures. And that's why I had us read James chapter one. Would
you turn back there? James chapter one. Verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom. Now the wisdom he is speaking
of here is saving knowledge. The fear of God. That's the beginning of wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom. I don't know how many times I've
read this passage of scripture and said, Lord, I like it. Give
it to me. If any of you lack wisdom. Now, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask the Lord for it.
Isn't that encouraging? Let him ask the Lord for it.
I love that scripture. You have not because you ask
not. Every one of us ought to be asking
right now. Lord, you said if we ask for
wisdom, you'd give it. I'm asking. You take the Lord
at his word. ask and you shall receive. Seek
and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. To everyone that asketh, receiveth. To him that knocks, it shall
be opened." That's the promise of Scripture. If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally. Now notice the word men is in
italics. He gives to all. All who ask. All who ask. It's not talking
about all men without exception, obviously, but he does give to
all who ask. And he upbraids not. In other
words, if you come to him and ask for wisdom, he's not going
to say, what are you doing asking for wisdom? A sinful and Inconsistent
and contradictory and hypocritical as you are, you ask me for wisdom?
No, no, the Lord doesn't do that. Any human being would, but not
the Lord. He gives to all liberally, generously,
graciously, and He doesn't upbraid. He doesn't ball you out for asking. What an encouragement to ask. But, let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. There's only one way to ask the
Lord for anything. Let him ask in faith. What's that mean? Let him ask
in faith, nothing wavering. Now the word wavering is doubting. And this is not the word used
when our Lord said, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst
thou doubt? Different word. This is not the
word used. when it says concerning all the
disciples at the end after the Lord was resurrected they worshipped
him and some doubted that's not the word because where those
men had that doubt they also had faith they believed and when James
says let him ask in faith nothing wavering nothing doubting He's
speaking of that doubt which is from unbelief. The word waiver. Turn with me
in Romans chapter four. Hold your finger there in James
one. We're coming right back there. Return to Romans chapter four. Verse 17, as it is written. I have made thee a father. I
have made thee a father of many nations. Now, when the Lord made
that statement to Abraham, he didn't have any kids yet. God
doesn't say, I will make you a father of many nations. He said, I have made you a father
of many nations. When God says something, it is
before it takes place. Before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickens, here's who God is, the one who quickens
the dead, gives life to the dead, and calleth those things which
be not as though they were, it could just as accurately and
perhaps more accurately be translated, he calleth those things which
be not as be. That's so glorious with regard
to justification. I'm not justified in myself. God says I am, I am. That's how clear that is. Let's go on reading. Verse 18,
who? Against hope. There wasn't any
hope that he could have a child. He was 100 years old, his wife
was 90, and had already gone through menopause. There was
no hope that he would have a child. Humanly speaking, there was no
hope. Who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
He considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about 100
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He didn't even
take those things into account because of what God said. That's
all it took is a word from God. Everything else said no, but
God said that means yes. He staggered not. That's the word waver. That's
the word waver, same word. He staggered not, he wavered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded. And that word persuaded
is in the passive tense. You know what that means? The
reason he was fully persuaded is because God persuaded him.
And that's why he was fully persuaded. If God persuades you, you'll
be fully persuaded. If I persuade you, You'll have
all kinds of question marks, but if he persuades you, you'll
be fully persuaded. And what was he fully persuaded
of? That what God had promised, he was able. He was able. Is anything too
hard for the Lord? He was able to perform. Before you go back to James,
I'd like you to look with me at 1 Kings chapter 18. We'll get back to James, but
I want us to look at this passage of scripture in 1 Kings chapter
18. This is Elijah, and he says in verse 21, And Elijah came unto all the
people, 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 21. And Elijah came unto all
the people and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? That is the double minded man. How long halt ye between two
opinions? And that word halt means jump
back and forth. Straddle the fence, go to one side, then to
the other. How long halt ye between two
opinions? If the Lord be God. You know, Elijah's name means
Jehovah is God. And I'm sure that that was just
a source of irritation to Ahab at this time. He was worshiping
Baal. And this man whose name Jehovah is God, but he was denied
his speaking. If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. Don't halt between two opinions.
Don't go back and forth. Don't be a double-minded man. Don't be unstable like Reuben. How long halt ye between two
opinions? Now, 40 years ago, one of the
first services we ever had at Todd's Road Grace Church, Henry
Mayhem preached the message entitled Six Stubborn Statements. And he preached an hour and a
half. And nobody was upset with it. How do you know that? Well,
that's back when we had cassette tapes. One 45-minute song went
through, the other 45-minute song went through, you heard
the click, and he was going on after that. Usually, if I preached an hour
and a half, I imagine I'd be preaching to empty pews by now,
but I'd get up and walk out. But it was a great, great message. But in these six stubborn statements,
and I think this has something to do with halting between two
opinions. But I'm gonna add one to it,
the first one. And then we'll look at his six
stubborn statements. Either the Bible is the inspired
word of God, or it's not. Either the Bible is God's word,
our only rule of faith and practice. The inspired word of God, each
word said exactly as God would have it said. Every verb tense,
every plural, every pronoun, everything is exactly as God
would have it said. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now, believe all of it or believe
none of it. It doesn't do any good to say
I believe the Bible is the Word of God without paying attention
to what it says. There are a lot of people who will fight for
the Bible being the inspired Word of the Scriptures. They
pay absolutely no attention to what it actually says. And so
all these other, everything else comes out of this. To the law
and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there's no light in them. This is the religion of this
book. The Bible, the holy scriptures. Now in giving these You can't
really have the first six statements without that, and I'm sure he,
you know, I'm not adding anything he said that was in that, but
we gotta begin here. The Bible's the word of God.
Here's his first statement. God is either sovereign in his
will, or man is sovereign in his will. God is either God, absolutely
sovereign, in control of everything, or man has a free will, and he's
the one who's sovereign, and he's the one whose will is ultimately
God. Which is it? It can't be both. You can't halt between two opinions.
God is either God, absolute, sovereign, in complete control,
or he's not, and he's, gotta wait to see what man will let
him do. The second stubborn statement
is men are either dead in sins, incapable of saving themselves,
and totally dependent upon a sovereign God, or men have some ability
to save themselves. And salvation actually is ultimately
dependent upon works. It's one of the two, but it can't
be both. You can't halt between two opinions.
The one excludes the other. The third stubborn statement
was God either elected a people before time began or He didn't. Now, if He did, the people who
don't preach this are lying on God. If He didn't, The people
who do preach this are lying on God. And don't hide behind
the refuge of, well, you know, it's a doctrine of secondary
importance. I've heard people do that. It's a doctrine of secondary
importance. It's not really that important.
Well, if God's glory is not important, it's not important. And he said
his glory was, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And
I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy. God is either God,
that's what that means. He elected people. Election is
God being God. or the other is true, and men are
the one really in control. The fourth stubborn statement,
God's either sovereign or he's not, men are either dead or they're
not, God either elected a people or they're not, and the fourth
stubborn statement had to do with the death of Christ. Christ's
blood either actually saves and puts away sin, or it doesn't,
and it is up to men to do something to make it work. One is true, the other is false. One is the content of the gospel,
the other is a false gospel. There's no mixing of the two. Fifth, God the Holy Spirit, this
is that fifth stubborn statement. God the Holy Spirit, either irresistibly
and invincibly gives life, or he's got to wait to see if a
man will let him give him life. Two things can't be brought together,
can they? How long halt ye between two opinions? And the last stubborn
statement was God's people either persevere all the way to the
end, looking to Christ only, And I'm saying this about perseverance.
Perseverance isn't remaining religious. A lot of people remain
religious, but you persevere in looking to Christ only all
the time, or men can fall away and not be saved, which would
deny everything the Bible teaches. Turn back to James. How long
halt ye between two opinions? The instability of Reuben is
what got me thinking this way. James chapter one. Let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering, not hopping back and forth, not holding two opinions,
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with
the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that
he shall receive anything of the Lord. And that double-minded
man will not receive anything from the Lord. And here's why.
He doesn't have faith. That's why. Without faith, the
scripture says, it is impossible. Not hard, not unlikely, without
faith. And what is faith? Faith is knowing
that Jesus Christ is your righteousness before God and you rely on him.
You don't look anywhere else. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything of the Lord. And then James, and I have
no doubt that Reuben was one of the people in mind that made
him say this, a double-minded man is unstable. Remember Reuben? Unstable in
all his ways. A double-minded man is unstable,
frothy in all his ways. Now that word, double-minded, Double-mindedness excludes faith. It's not weak in faith, it's
without faith. You can be saved having weak
faith. As a matter of fact, you're saved the same way the man with
strong faith is. You're saved by Christ, not by your faith.
You see, it's the object of faith that saves, not the faith itself.
It's the object. You can have the weakest faith
in the world and be saved just as surely as the strongest faith
in the world. So this is not talking about
weakness of faith. This double-minded man is talking
about absence. of faith, double as opposed to
single. Paul put it this way, I fear
less by any means as Satan tempted Eve through his subtleties, so
your mind should be corrupted from the, anybody know the word? Simplicity. The onlyness. The onlyness of Christ. That's what Paul feared. That's
what I fear for myself every day. That's what I fear for you
every day. Being corrupted from the simplicity,
the onlyness of Christ. Now I'm gonna wind up this message
with something that's familiar, I believe, to all of us. what is known as the five solas. And we went over
them in Sunday school recently, is what we went over with the
Vacation Bible School. But I want to mention these again. Scriptures alone, Christ alone,
grace alone, faith alone, the glory of God alone. And these
have been called the watchwords of the Reformation. And I hate
it when they're called that because they're not the watchwords of
the Reformation. They're eternal truth. This was true before time
began. This was true when God created
the universe. This was true when Adam fell.
These are not things that happened during the Reformation, as far
as that goes. I don't even like to talk about
these being the reformed faith. Reformed from what? The truth
never needed to be reformed. Now understand that. The truth's
always been pure. It's always been glorious. It never needed
reform. That's one of the reasons why
I really dislike the term reform faith. You know, when people
say, are you reformed? I'm, no. I believe sovereign grace, but
as far as the thought of the reform, reform from what? Was it down here and all of a
sudden we made it more pure and we brought it back to light?
God's never been without witness. He's always had his witness.
He's always had the truth. So this is eternal truth. Scriptures alone. Christ alone. Grace alone. Faith alone. The glory of God alone, no instability,
no hopping back and forth. Scriptures alone, every word
of the Bible. Now, you'll notice we do not
have a confession of faith. We don't have one. You know why? We got the Bible. That's simple enough, isn't it?
We got the Holy Scriptures. Any document written by man is
uninspired. Why would I want to look to something
uninspired? We have God's holy word, the scriptures alone, our
only rule of faith and practice. If it's not in the Bible, I don't
want to hear it. And it's what the Bible teaches
I want to hear. And the thing is, somebody says,
well, you know, the Bible is a big book. Yeah, it's a big
book, but it's got one message. That's not complicated. You don't
have two things to choose from. It's the gospel. It's the gospel
of God's grace. It's the gospel of Christ. Scriptures. alone. And I stand on that. I just, I have such confidence
in the word of God. This is the inspired word of
God. And I would never ask anybody to believe anything I say because
I said it or because this church believes or because some kind
of denominational distinctions, denominations aren't in the Bible.
Scriptures alone. Christ alone, he is the message of every scripture. I believe that. I know that's
what Paul meant when he said, I've determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Christ alone is
the message of scripture. This book has one purpose, to
reveal Jesus Christ. It testifies with regard to Him. He claimed that. He said, you
search the scriptures and then you think you have eternal life.
You think, oh, if I can just learn how to live and how to
conduct my life through reading the Bible, I'm all for conducting
your life in a good way. I'm all for me conducting my
life in a good way. I'm not diminishing that, but
I'm saying this, the scripture's given to teach who he is, what
he did, where he is now, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose of every scripture. Doesn't matter what it is, it's
to teach us the gospel. And I know that Christ alone
is the object of faith. Christ alone, not Christ and.
I know Christ alone is the ground of assurance, not Christ and. Not Christ and how I'm living.
I wanna live in a way that glorifies God. Please don't misunderstand
me. I wanna live a way that glorifies Christ. I wanna live in a way,
I wanna be an example in all things. I'm not taking away from
that. Don't misunderstand me. But I
don't look to anything that I do, think, desire. My only ground
of assurance is that Jesus Christ died for me. I have no other
ground. And if I make anything else a
ground, I've made that anti-Christ. That's what I've done. Christ
alone. Grace alone. From election to final glorification
and everything in between, salvation's by grace. Not of works. And here's what that means. When
you begin in your experience of salvation, it's because of
the grace of God. It's not because of anything
you've done. It's because God saved you. Amen? You know that's so. The Lord
did something for you. And in the middle of your experience
here on earth, it's just as much grace now as it was then. And you can't say, well, I was
started by grace, but I started doing better. No, no. If you say that, that's works.
That's works. If at the end you say, well,
salvation is by grace and grace kept me, but there at the end,
I'm going to be rewarded a higher place because of my works of
obedience. Well, if you deserve something,
I hope you get it. But, um, The thought of rewards for human
works, what about you would add something to the righteousness
of Christ and make it better? No, salvation is by grace alone. Faith alone, not faith and, if
it's faith and it's not faith. Faith alone, the one evidence
of salvation. I love that passage of scripture
in 2 Corinthians 13 5 and I don't know how many times I've only
read half of this. Let a man examine himself. Note, let a man examine himself,
not somebody else. Let a man examine himself whether
he be in the faith. That's what I want to examine.
Whether I be in the faith, the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness, the one evidence of
salvation is faith in Christ. And if I make anything else an
evidence, I make it anti-Christ. That strong language, I believe
it with all, I know it so. The glory of God alone is the
only motive God operates on. Now, when God saved me, it wasn't
His response to me. It was Him glorifying Himself. And in my salvation, and in everybody
else's salvation, He gets all the glory. And we love it that
way. And the reason we love it that
way is not only because all glory goes to Him, but because if there's
any glory that goes to us, that makes salvation by grace go out
the door. And I've got to come up with some kind of work. That's
why I'm so... I actually have a selfish motive,
as I do with everything else. But I have a selfish motive in
wanting it to be for the glory of God alone, because if it's
not, I'm in trouble. Double-minded, Reuben, unstable
as water, you shall not excel. Double-minded in all his ways,
may the Lord give us grace to be single-minded. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would bless your word to us. And that we would not
be double minded. Unstable as water. Deliver us
from being corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ.
For Christ's sake. Lord, as we prepare to take your
table. In obedience to your command,
truly give us the grace to do this in remembrance of thy dear
son. In his name we pray, amen.